9 replies to this topic

[lpnlimbo]

Hello everyone, I'm a new member here and I am a LPN for 2 yrs now and have felt it was time to leave nursing home flr nursing and try hospice nursing. I basically have the job already, I just need to go through orientation which are on day hours and then go on a couple of night assignments with another LPN. The whole thing interests me but the hours are god-forsaken. I hate the thought of being all alone during those hours of the night (7p-8a) trying to stay awake. I know people snooze on the job, but I'm a deep sleeper and that's just not something I can even play with. I'm also a little nervous about being in strangers homes, I'm not bothered at all about being assigned to a nursing home though. I just get keep fighting with myself and going back and forth constantly about if I'll be happy and healthy working these weird hours. By the way, I've already burned out of working the floor, I know what your thinking.....heck, she's only begun, 2 yrs and she thinks she's tired? Ha, try 20, 30 or how ever many yrs you have. The truth is, we all know how impossible it is to spread yourself that thin out on the floor and my body has already taken a beat'in for it. My sympathies and respect to all you other floor nurses out there. I know your pain, my legs were screaming for a chair, my varicose veins were busting faster than you could say "ouch" and my feet became so calloused and corned up it was ridulous, and your just too darn tired on your days off to really recouperate before heading back to the pit. Well, I know how negative I sound, but hopefully some of you will be relieved to hear it come from someone else what your feelings about floor nursing are. Anyway, I'm just looking for advice on hospice nursing in general and maybe some happy hope about working the graveyard shift and still feeling human about it. Thanks for reading all my blah blah and hope to hear from you soon!

[ladybugj]

congrats on exploring a very important and touching part of nursing! i am a floor nurse working 7pm to 7am at a hospital. though i never thought staying up all nite would suit me, it is wonderful! i'm not so sure i would be able to do it while alone and in a home setting. my suggestion would be to bring lots of movies and busy-work (bills, holiday cards, etc) to help keep you awake. i hope you enjoy touching the lives of your patients and their families in their time of need and sorrow. you are welcomed and appreciated more than you will ever know! good luck and keep us posted on your feelings.

[lpnlimbo]

Thanks ladibugi! It was nice getting a positive response on how there is hope for enjoying those hours. I actually had to go for another interview today and all looks great! I'll be starting orientation soon and I'm phyched. Have you ever had a sign that let you know your right on track before? Pertaining to nursing that is, something spiritual you know. Well, the strangest thing happened to me while talking with this paramedic/firefighter. I told him how I was thinking going for hospice and he said, "It takes a special calling for that." Okay, I know what your thinking, "Yeah.....and?" Well, for me that simple little commet hit home. I started really thinking about the importance of the job itself. I think that all nursing jobs are important but for some reason I think that being able to fully give of yourself to one patient is an incredible thing. Another concern of mine working with hospice isn't just the hours however, the other factor that sometimes worries me is dealing with death/dying. Now I know that you can't escape death/dying if your a nurse period. No matter what department you work in your going to come across it at some time. Even working with babies, alot of people assume that if your a maternity nurse all is happy go lucky, but what they forget is that there are stillborns and other complications that make it hard to celebrate your job everyday. My mother is concerned that I'll be depressed or something by constantly working with the dying and dead, I keep trying to explain to her that it's as much as a natural part of life as birth is, but she just doesn't get it. So I have to keep hearing commets/jokes about my "morbidity" and stuff, but the truth is, she or anyone else that doesn't get it, didn't have to go through what we did in nursing school, nobody really realizes how difficult of a task nursing school alone was not to mention the whole other ballgame in the real world, so to me, if anyone has any say in what type of nursing you're going to choose it should be you. Right?

[HeatherG]

I worked twelve hour nights for years and loved the night shift far better than the day shift. If you are working the night shift in someone's home, and your patient is asleep, you may have difficulty staying awake. Bring something to do like knitting, crocheting, have an mp3 player so that you can play music without disturbing. Reading will keep yougoing, butit could also put you to sleep.

I found that I did best when I ate a small breakfast before going to sleep in the morning. Otherwise I woke up at noon STARVING! On your daysoff, staying up late and sleeping in during the mornings willmake it easier for you to adjust.

There can be a lot of rewards in Hospice nursing. The care you give your patient and family will always be remembered. I treasure some of the experiences I had with dying patients.

[3boyzmom]

I always thought I'd love Hospice nursing! I haven't tried it, because my tour of duty in home health caused my husband to say "no more travelling jobs where youi have to use your own car." But, I have worked night shift, and I always liked it. After about two years I max out and have to go back on days, because I don't sleep all that well in the daytime, but I did like the job itself at night. You could tend to your patients without a lot of outside interference. Keep in mind, too, that if you don't really like nights you may not have to stay on them forever. There's some amount of turnover in any organization, so chances are a day slot will come open sometime. I agree with the others- take something to do. You'll need to get up and walk around often, and try to stay comfortable without getting too warm and cozy. Wrapping up in a blanket, etc, will cause you to drift off! I gained weight working nights, because one of the ways I kept myself awake was by snacking! Sounds like your heart is saying go for it- so I also say, Go for it!

[NawlinsGirl]

Hi Lpnlimbo,

My hats off to people who work hospice. I have several friends who work hospice and find it very rewarding. It takes a special person to work in that area. Now, as far as working nights thats a different story. I have worked nights for the past 14 yrs and i always wonder what it would be like to have normal hours but Im a night person so i guess i wont ever find out.. LOL

Good luck to you and your new area of work.. Im sure you are going to find a way to make this work for you as far as keeping yourself occupied while your patient sleeps. Please keep us posted on how you are doing............ NAWLINSGIRL

[3boyzmom]

Nawlinsgirl, if it makes you feel any better, days aren't really all they're cracked up to be! lol. I finally got a job in a clinic with great hours- Monday-Friday 8-5. (Well actually on Fridays we close at noon.) It is perfect, and I'm not complaining, but here's the thing- When do we make our own personal appointments without having to be absent from work? Or do our banking, etc. Or have the plumber out to the house. The obvious answer for me is Friday afternoons, but hilariously enough, I found out that many many places (doctor's offices and other businesses) close early on Fridays also! We constantly have someone missing from work for periods of time because they have to go to appointments, etc. And if you have kids in braces, which requires multiple, frequent appointments (I do!) it is hard. You feel guilty for leaving but you have no choice. I have threatened to go back to nights, so that I could make app'ts. during the day. Although when I did do nights, it seemed the only appt's I could make were right in the middle of my sleep time- it was hard to get a 9am or 4pm appt. anywhere, they all said "come in at 11:00". I guess the fact is, when you work full time, it's hard to have a personal life! By the way, how are thins in Nawlins? Are you living there now?

[lpnlimbo]

Hi everyone! Thanks for all your responses, I really appreciate it and I feel much better now thinking about working nights. I'm really excited and I'm actually starting tomarrow but that's just day hours orientation. My next question would have to be, why in the world do employers expect their night nurses to attend monthly meetings (or maybe weekly) during their sleep time! That's really insane insn't it? I remember in all the nursing homes I've worked in there was only one of them that would accomadate the 3rd shift by having their mandatory meeting at 7:30am before they left work, now that was nice of H.R. because they usually didn't start their job till 9am, but hey, nurses deserve for H.R. to support them the best they can, after all, nursing's a hard job! But anyway, getting back to my scope on having monthly meetings with my new hospice job, I don't think all of them are really mandatory, I think you can slither your way out of some of them because during my last interview a nurse (obviously) called during our meeting and my new boss was telling her that, "yes, this coming up meeting is mandatory and all lpns must be present for it". So there you have it right? I'll get to that bridge and then adresse it I guess. I just think it's really asking alot of someone who is willing to work these crazy hours compared to the rest of the world's schedule....LOL....and then well, you know, it's like asking a 7-3 shift nurse to attend a 2am mandatory meeting! LOL! Isn't that hilarious? I would have laughed in their faces if they had told me that when I was a 7-3 nurse! But for some reason night nurses either don't speak up (and stick together strongly on this issue) or maybe they feel a little weird asking for anything knowing that they're making more money than the other shifts for doing well, less face it, not as much stressful work as the other shifts and they just feel guilty for opening their mouths when they're happy with their work just the way it is. But then again, I feel that way in nursing period. No unions, no voices, no concern, therefore, no movement in our rights. I'm getting political here and this is the wrong post to do that with, so with that note I'm signing off for now, but I just wanted to say thank-you everyone for your responses thus far and I hope you have something to say about the "mandatory meetings" help during sleep hours!

[3boyzmom]

Most places I've worked at did require their nurses to attend meetings, but they tried to either make them very early (as the night shift was getting off duty), or later in the afternoon, like 4pm, so that at least it wouldn't be totally in the middle of sleep time.
What would be really nice would be if the head nurse would come in at night to meet with the night staff, and then meet with the day staff separately. They could cover the same material.
I did have an Infection Control nurse once, years ago, who was so great- she always had little inservices on new equipment, etc. She'd inservice the day and evening shift before she left at 5:00, but she always came back at 2am or whatever, to catch the night staff while they were working. Now that's a compassionate nurse! I wonder if she ever realized how much people appreciated that little act of thoughtfulness. More than the "doing" it, the idea that she was so willing to do it that was appreciated. Made you feel like she understood that your time was as important as anyone else's.
Have a great time on the new job- let us know how it goes!

[NawlinsGirl]

Hi 3boyzmom,

Thank you for enlightening me on the drawbacks of working days.. I see your point concerning when to find time to do all your personal agendas. As far as New Orleans is concerned, the process of rebuilding is very slow. Im currently living in San Francisco but ive been back to New Orleans twice since hurricane Katrina and i dont see much improvement. I guess its just going to take a long time.
Thank you very much for asking.